They knew they were friends
by Anitapapaya
Summary: They're friends for a reason. What reason though?
1. Chapter 1

Zuko always thought of Toph as his closest friend.

During the war, she was the first to welcome him and even though he accidently burnt her feet, she didn't treat him like he was a criminal…or a prince for that matter. He always loved how she didn't care who someone was and instead, treated everybody in whatever way she felt like doing. Which most of the time happened to be pushing others around like a Melon Lord. It was a welcome change from the high expectations of the rest of the Gaang and the pressure to end the war. Perhaps it was because Toph wasn't there to see him hunt down the avatar. Or maybe it was because Uncle Iroh liked her. Whatever the reason, all Zuko knew was that Toph was possibly the most interesting person he had ever met. That was why when he found out that she was curious about fire (that being the only element which she could not touch), he trained until he could produce a flame that was cool enough to be touched. He swore that the smile on her face when she finally 'discovered' fire was bigger than Sokka's when he found meat.

Once the war was over though, Zuko grew too busy to even see Aang himself. The first few years as Fire Lord were the times where he could only see the Gaang if he organized diplomatic visits to the Fire Nation Palace. Fortunately, Toph grew bored of staying in the Earth Kingdom and decided to travel. The Water tribes were to cold and she was blind (which was a pity because she loved penguin sledding). The Air temples (Aang had worked with Teo to clean them up and now lived there) were too high up and Aang was too busy to spar so she avoided those too. Kyoshi island was nice except that everyone kept badgering her to teach even though she wanted to lay in mud all day long. And so, Toph finally ended up in the Fire Nation Palace. Sure the palace was big enough to get lost in but that was what Toph loved about it. It was a constant challenge to find her way out of the long corridors and she frequently visited the war prisoners if only to taunt them. Most of all, she couldn't resist the Fire Nation simply because Zuko was the only one who never turned down her sparring challenges. When Zuko was busy, Iroh would take long walks with her and talk with her (these were the only times that Toph was silent). Toph decided to stay. For her, the Fire Nation was amazing- the food was scrumptious, the activities were fun and the taunting was priceless. For Zuko, Toph was the only one who when with, enabled him to completely forget all his duties and just be normal (or as normal as two immature, violent adults could be). Having Toph in the Fire Nation was the best gift he could ever have.

And so, the Blue Spirit and the Blind Bandit were the greatest friends in all four of the nations (only in secret though. They liked to deceive others- Zuko was boody in front of everyone else and Toph was a no nonsense tomboy. Not exactly a good match of friends) and each of them was grateful beyond measure for the friendship of the other.

This was precisely why, when Toph's birthday came up, Zuko gave his best friend the most incredible gift ever. He gave her a small island (previously a Fire Nation Colony but abandoned due to the frequent earthquakes) all to herself. When he told her that she could do whatever she wanted with the island, diabolical plans and all, she confirmed what she had sort of known all along.

Toph now knew that Zuko was most definitely her best friend.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: This is sort of why Toph enjoyed the sparring sessions. Set somewhere in between Chp 1 and before Zuko gave her the island.

* * *

Zuko put his scroll down and looked out the window of his second-story office in the palace. It was a calm morning so far- the air was just moving so that the trees swayed gently and the all that was to be heard was the calls of animals and the water in the pond splashing with the movement of the turtleducks. Zuko loved the peace. After the eventful teenage years, sometimes all Zuko would wish for was a day without a problem to solve. That is, a normal life.

Alas! The ground rumbled and a mound of earth zoomed towards the palace. Within seconds, the entire mound had shifted to become a pillar upon which stood a beautiful maiden with long flowing black hair that was captured in a band and a petite but strong frame. Zuko laughed at his inner narration and looked once more at the woman. Sure she was beautiful but only as much as could be expected of a woman entirely shrouded in mud and dirt. It was Toph. Without a word passed between the two of them, Zuko knew what she wanted. His 'peace' was over. He put his quill down and went to change.

Soon, the Blue Spirit and the Blind Bandit faced each other in the sparring field behind the Fire Nation Palace, in their respective bending stances. Still not a word had escaped either of their lips. Waiting for the other to make their move, they circled each other. In a split second, they were fighting. A bystander would not been capable of seeing how the fight started but Toph and Zuko knew. Toph had detected Zuko shifting his weight to the balls of his feet as he did every time he made a move while Zuko saw the twinkle in her eye as she detected his movements and they each attacked.

Once their sparring session was over (Toph, of course, being triumphant), they moved over to where the old uncle Iroh was, watching them and brewing tea. They sat down, slowed their breathing and accepted the cups of tea that Iroh offered them. They drank it, grateful for its refreshing coolness after a very physical sparing session.

"Seeing as you lost _scarface_….you must do whatever I say today"

"Wasn't the saying _'In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king'_ and not the other way around?"

Two unseeing green orbs glared at two fiery golden ones (albeit one was a bit scarred and didn't see very well)

"If you two are going to spar, please move back to the sparring field and spare this old man from upsetting his tea."

As the two stormed off, uncle Iroh shook his head in disapproval and then chuckled. Those two would find any excuse to spar. He was glad however, to see the ex-disgraced Prince of the Fire Nation finally living a rather normal life, free from political work and simply enjoying a day with his friend. As the two younger ones fought and taunted one another, Iroh simply sipped his tea.

The sun shone brightly as ever upon the earth.


	3. Chapter 3

Wow. I completely forgot that I had an account D: Sorry for abandoning this story for so long.

I don't really like this piece. It's slightly different than what I imagined in my head but I'm sort of in a slump now and figured this would be better than nothing :/ I realised I didn't add how Toph travelled to and fro the island…Hmmmmmm maybe Zuko gave her a ship and an attendant to take her to the island? I always read stories about Toph touching her friends faces to see their features but it didn't seem like a very TOPH thing to do so I came up with a new way…. :)

* * *

Once Zuko had given Toph an island as her birthday present, her mind sped into numerous ideas as to what to do with the island. Firstly, to get to the island meant having to take a two hour boat ride (Or a one and a half hour Appa ride). This meant that the island would be safe from prying eyes, only the Gaang would be able to access the island and she would be safe in doing her dastardly deeds there. Secondly, the island was full of hills and crevices thanks to the frequent earthquakes. Those would be good for making caves or homes built into the earth (completely furnished mind you). Thirdly, at the furthest end of the island, the end facing the open sea, was a huge (and she meant HUGE) dry, open plain. It was this plain that she had not yet quite figured out what to do with.

Over the course of the next few months, Toph simply stopped thinking about the island. All she did was return to the Earth Kingdom to further delve into the earth's secrets and improve her bending. Soon, she decided she needed actual schooling about the earth and so, she returned to the Fire Nation to ask the wise Uncle Iroh and the knowledgeable King Bumi (who just so happened to be visiting at the time) to teach her. As she learnt how the mountains and valleys were formed, a plan started forming in her mind. What if she made earth formations of the Gaang that would withstand the trials of time and nature? It was one way to make the plain seem less empty. She pondered over days as to how form the statues and come up with a complex composition of earth that would be extremely durable. The only problem Toph had was that she didn't quite know what her friends look like. Sure, she knew their basic height and weights as well as body structure based completely off their movements….it was their features that puzzled her.

A rather devilish grin grew on her face as she finally got her burst of inspiration.

Sometime later, and after weeks of pestering Zuko to call the rest of the Gaang for a reunion, the old war friends were on their way to Toph's island (Also known by Sokka as Melon Kingdom). They parked Appa on the side of the plain and made their way to the open beach. Toph had already bended a nice set up for them, complete with rock umbrellas, rock deck chairs and mud mats. Sokka and Aang prepared to have a sand sculpture competition while the rest just laughed and relaxed on the cool rock chairs with cold drinks in their hands.

"ALRIGHT PEOPLE! EVERYONE STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING AND STAND AT THESE MARKS AND WATCH THE MIGHTY MELON LORD'S DISPLAY THAT WILL AMAZE YOU!"

Laughing, they complied and made their way to their places marked out by a raised mound of earth. Toph waited until everyone was in place and a questionable smile grew on her face.

"Hold your breath" she warned, and then earthbended so that every single person was cast downwards into the ground and enveloped in earth. Since they were caught unawares and were frozen in surprise, it was only too easy to sense all their features and earthbend huge sculptures of her friends, complete with features. Once she was satisfied, she brought them back to the surface. The amazing thing was that she did all this in thirty seconds flat. Staring at the incredulous faces of her friends who no doubt thought that she was off her rocker, she quickly pointed at the statues behind them before they could voice their disapproval at her actions.

There was silence as they turned around. Then there was more silence. And finally, the gang started laughing, quietly at first and then full out belly laughs as they stared at life-sized earth statues of them adorned with various expressions of fear. The statues were almost an exact representation of themselves with their heights and builds scaled to perfection, only the scrunched up faces of the statues betraying its magnificence.

With that, the rest of the reunion went relatively well except that everyone made sure to attack Toph in one way or another for burying them underground. And if you ever asked Toph what her greatest achievement in life was, she would always say, the Melon Kingdom Statues.


End file.
